While bookmakers, bettors, and college basketball tournaments were the focus of Thursday’s betting, there were big bets on Thursday. Tampa Bay BuccaneersTo win the Super Bowl, you can find it at several Las Vegas sportsbooks.
Tampa Bay was a 50-1 longshot when bets of more than $10,000 were placed at South Point, Circa Sports and SuperBook. While trying to find out what caused the sudden interest in the Buccaneers, bookmakers dramatically adjusted their odds. Three days later, they would find out the truth in the middle all the chaos.
At 7:13 p.m. ET, Sunday, minutes after the NCAA tournament bracket was announced. Tom BradyAnnounced that he was not retiring and would be returning as a Tampa Bay player. The Brady announcement came just as oddsmakers were at their busiest time of year: hours following the unveiling of the tournament bracket, when betting houses raced to update their odds for winning the national title by putting point spreads on the 32 first games.
Ed Salmons, a Las Vegas veteran bookmaker and SuperBook member, stated that it was “very hectic, intense”.
The SuperBook’s bookmakers first noticed something was amiss Thursday morning when a customer from New Jersey asked for a pair $10,000 bets. He wanted to bet on the Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl at 60-1, and the NFC win at 30-1. SuperBook allowed the customer $1,000 to place, which was within their house limits for futures wagers. However, it still increased Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl odds by 25-1 and their NFC odds by 12-1. The SuperBook considered the Nevada bettor savvy and placed two huge bets on Tampa Bay’s Buccaneers at the shorter odds later in the day.
“We thought Deshaun WatsonIt was going [to Tampa Bay]Randy Blum said that he was the SuperBook’s sportsbook manager. “We didn’t believe it was about Brady at that time.”
Chris Andrews, South Point’s sportsbook director in Las Vegas, stated that he placed three wagers on the Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl from the same customer just before 3:00 p.m. Thursday. Andrews claimed that the customer, who Andrews described as a stranger, placed bets on the Bucs at odds 50-1, 30-1, and 25-1. Although Andrews refused to give any further information about the size of the bets he did admit that he had a liability of multiple-six figures on Tampa Bay. Andrews moved the Bucs from 4-1 to win Super Bowl after Brady made his announcement. This made Tampa Bay the Super Bowl favorite.
Andrews said, “I have a feeling he had good info.”
Chris Bennett, the sportsbook manager at Circa Sports, called it a “significant” wager on the Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl at 30-1.
“I would be confident that the person knew that,” I said. [Brady]Bennett stated that Bennett was returning.
Other sportsbooks offering lower Super Bowl odds on the Bucs did not see any indications that Brady would be returning. Jay Croucher of PointsBet’s trading department stated that the Bucs were at 19-1 to win Super Bowl before Brady announced it, and they were at 7-1 after.
Croucher stated, “With something such as that, you quickly find out, when the odds screen lights up with bets for the Bucs.” “We adjusted the prices just seconds after the news broke about Brady,” Croucher stated.
Caesars Sportsbook, which was one of the few books that offered odds on Brady becoming the MVP next season, admitted that a few bets did manage to slip in during the breaking news. Brady’s odds of winning next season’s MVP went up from 45-1 to 9-1.
“A few bets were placed right as the news broke, right when we were focusing on the NCAA tournament,” Adam Pullen (assistant director of trading at Caesars Sportsbook), told ESPN on Sunday night. “I don’t believe that I think.” [Brady]had in mind us oddsmakers and what we are doing for the NCAA tourney. While it would be nice if the man had, I don’t expect him to sympathize.